Lawfully Wedded Wives

New York, NY – In this new book’s 20 tales of love, sex and commitment – spiritual and scandalous, philosophical and trivial, heartbreaking and hilarious – women tell their same-sex wedding stories in heartfelt words and gorgeous photos. “In their own words, these are the voices of history,” said award-winning writer and San Francisco State University professor Nona Caspers, one of two co-editors of Lawfully Wedded Wives.

Particularly relevant as Illinois today is set to become the 15th state in the U.S. to approve gay marriage (hot on the heels late last month of New Jersey celebrating its first day of marriage equality), the book by Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, available in both print and e-formats, tells the profound stories of how women celebrating newly granted civil rights took the groundbreaking steps to marry.

Caspers’ and groundbreaking filmmaker and oral historian Joell Hallowell’s interviews provide a moving and contemporary glimpse into the women’s decisions to wed, the meanings they assign to weddings and marriage, how their relationships changed as a result, and much more.

“Every day, thousands of loving couples come together to make a simple, legal commitment to each other,” Hallowell said, “but the women in Lawfully Wedded Wives tell their memorable stories of marrying in the months immediately after the California Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to deny marriage rights to gays and lesbians.”

“Choosing to wed with varying levels of joy and trepidation, this eclectic group of women had two things in common – a compelling reason to rush to the altar and a stack of wedding photos,” Caspers recounted. “Their intimate, personal stories document one of the most historic changes in civil rights in our time.”